Snake Guides

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Smelt Run

I was thinking about my Bro up in N. MN. I was thinking about the lake trout and the steelhead in Lake Superior. I was thinking about their limited forage base. I started thinking about smelt. They are a relatively large baitfish to imitate with a fly. But I think I'm getting close. This fly is constructed of EP Fiber and a little angel hair. It sheds water on the first backcast and is translucent and fishy looking in the water. I was thinking I might give it a try next time I'm up that way.

The red behind the eye isn't a hole in the fiber, it's actually a red tag of yarn, that I'm hoping will simulate gills.
Maybe I should have picked a better background color?

Monday, March 10, 2008

Before I forget...

My Bro is selling his fishpond vest. http://greenalt.blogspot.com/2008/03/for-sale.html
I own this vest and really like it. If you carry small fly boxes it's the bomb. My Bro likes bigger flyboxes and so he is going back to his teal columbia flyvest. Back in the early 90's when he bought that vest, it was really cutting edge. Might have been the first vest on the market that wasn't tan. Now that the teal vest is old enough to be retro rad, he is jumping back in it. Plus, it's held together by 2 parts fish scales and 1 part spawn juice. It's got Mojo. I'm glad. My Bro defies any label, but he's certainly more wool than Gore-Tex and I think that the old teal suits him. So, anyway he's selling the new vest and he's asking $100 which is $50 less than the new price. He said he only wore it a half dozen times and it looks to be in great shape. Drop him an email if you are interested. Oh and it's fully adjustable. He's 6' 4" and I'm 5' 11" so I think there may be some truth to the claim that one size fits all.

Somewhere, over the rainbow...

The closest piece of trout water to my home (approx 2 miles) was visited by me and JW on Sunday. I've been to this creek before, walked it. Scouted it. Spotted fish in it. But it is small. And Tough. Really Tough. It's unfishable by Mid-May. The grass grows tall and leans out over the surface foiling every attempt at a cast. But it's close. I wore hip boots for the first time in about decade. Not that the creek is shallow. It has some very nice deep undercuts and channels. I was trying to fit in a quick fish before dinner and hip boots just seemed the right footwear for an early season Blitzkrieg. I grabbed my camera, because I thought I'd take some really sweet iced guide, cold horizon shots for this blog. The batteries died. As we were rigging up I saw a rise. Honest to goodness concentric circles midstream. Then we saw another. I tied on a size 28 belly-button lint dry fly and blazed away without luck. It wasn't until I switched to a weighted black zonker concoction and started dapping the dark grooves that the noses started to peak out from under the banks. All told the creek is maybe a mile long. It's gin clear and doesn't get much pressure except maybe from some local farm kids once worms are legal. But by the time I made it to the top of my self imposed 300 yard beat, I'd missed 3 or 4 fish and spooked twice that many. And these were decent trout! The technique (and I use the term loosely) was basically a long dap and steer the fly kind of affair, but trout this close to home warmed my heart. Visions of fishing my lunch break on a Tuesday afternoon in April kept my gloveless fingertips warm as I shuffled back to the car. Dapping and steering as I went, working the opposite bank back downstream ... I finally wrangled one. 9 inches of local brown trout, caught and released. Victory on the home front.

My tax dollars at work.

Last Sunday, as I was fishing through a section of river I came across this ditch, dumping water that was not consistent with usual run-off discoloration, into my home water.

I snapped a few pictures and on Monday I sent the following email to the local watershed association and the DNR.

To whom it concerns,
I was fishing the (Not To Be Named Here) Creek this past Sunday and noticed an unusual discharge from the site located on the attached map. I've attached photos for your review. (I've seen oily run-off into [Not To Be Named Here] Creek from this site in the past).

As you know (Not To Be Named Here) Creek has seen more than its share of damage from non-point pollution. In this case, the discharge seems to be traceable to a source. If there is anybody who can check this out and make sure that we are not poisoning the creek (yet again) I'd be grateful.

I guess they read this stuff, or maybe it was my excellent photography, but I got a reply (I'm going to exclude anybody's name or phone numbers just because they didn't agree to have me post this stuff all over the internet, I've typed my edits in red):

On Monday afternoon I got this email from the fisheries manager:

Please give me a call - I need more information please - an address, the business name or type ...is this somehow directly related to this bldg in the pictures ??

I will be out Tues aft - Thurs aft - you may also call DNR Law enforcement - Warden XXXX at XXX-XXXX - you can remain anonymous if you so choose

XXXXXX My County Fisheries Manager Department of Natural Resources

So, I called him on Thursday.
By Friday I got this email:

Warden XXXXX took a look-see - a storm sewer that drains their lot empties there - I will suggest ( to Mr. XXXXXX [the owner of the facility]) a filter fabric in their inlet and maybe a tertiary filter at tthe outfall - if there is adequate space. That is what I suspected originally - and why i asked if you had followed it upstream.

Thanks for keeping your eyes open - feel free to call the XXXXX city admin or public works people when you see stream impacts - and myself as well

I will see if and where [my county] LCD can help out - may be problems if the lot is gravel

XXXXXX- your insights ?

Regards

My County Fisheries Manager
Department of Natural Resources

From: Warden XXXXX DNR
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 1:55 PM
To: K DNR
Subject: RE: (Not to Be Named Here) Creek

K- I met with Plant Manager (XXXXXXX) of (Business that Owns the Facility) (Ph # XXX-XXXX). The culvert by the fence in the pictures drains the parking lot. There was no current discharge and water in there was clear and frozen. (Plant Manager XXXXXX) was real interested in keeping an eye on it next week when things warm up again. He was real interested in anything they could do to improve the situation- he said they have any employee who is a grad student who did his research on environmental improvements to the plant grounds. If anyone wanted to test any runoff they would be moore than welcome.

Conservation Warden
MY Region
Department of Natural Resources

From: K DNR
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 10:17 AM
To: Warden XXXX - DNR
Subject: FW: (Not to be named here) Creek

we should take a ride

My County Fisheries Manager

Department of Natural Resources

What's more, today I got a call from the investigating warden giving me a full run-down on the who what where and when.

Now I'm just as likely to bitch about government as the next guy, my taxes are at the point where I cannot ignore the pain and I think that the latest "refund check" or "stimulus package" or whatever they are calling the few hundred dollars that the Bush administration is sending out to buy your republican vote, should have been left in my bank account in the first place or at least used to buy some body armor for the boys in the middle east so we can pull them the hell out without them getting shot in the back. Having said that, I'd just like to say "Thank You" to the Warden and the Fisheries Manager who, read and responded to my email. Thanks for your service and for sanding off a corner of this sharp edged cynical son of a bitch. Cheers Gentlemen!

Fishinigin

A little late to post, but I made it out last weekend for the opener. We had temps in the low 40's so guide ice wasn't a problem. I waded in and started catching browns and a couple bows on a small scud pattern. Seems like the trout were hungry. I fished from morning through early afternoon, took a dozen trout or more and headed home. Relaxed. Pleased. Thankful that I had the opportunity. It seemed to go just like it was supposed to: A guy hits his home water on opener and catches fish.

Brown falls for the ol' orange scud trick

Bow: Stocked, but clean and healthy

This guy couldn't wait any longer.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Nothing...then something.

It's about 98 below zero outside. I can hear the wind howling on the other side of my window just like in the cartoons. I have had no real fishing news to report for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Until now.

Saturday is opener. The "Early Season" as we have come to know it can be a blessing and a curse.
I'll be out of the house after a long winter.... "After a long winter" suggest that its done, although this year we are still about 3 feet deep in the throes of it. I expect to go anyway. I'll wonder after the 5th or 6th cast if Pam cooking spray applied to my line the night before might have helped with the iced up guides. I'll loathe having to fish nymphs when what I need is a glowing hatch of BWO's. I'll think back on the wading boots in the Dan Bailey's catalog (that didn't have felt bottoms) and wonder as I stand 6'7" on two precariously shaped snowballs, if they come in EE widths.

In other news...

I'm going to the Bahamas in April. My Bride and I have decided, after 4 years of taking kids with us EVERY WHERE WE GO, to leave them behind and take a vacation. So, as we were discussing where to go, she said "Sun" and I said "hmmmmmm" and she said "Beach" and again I said "hmmmmmm" and she said "Jamaica" and I thought about every website, book, magazine and lecture I had ever read or attended and whether they had ever mentioned "Jamaica" and "Bonefish" in the same sentence. And I said "Bahamas". And then I mumbled "bonefish". And she just looked at me. Incredulous? No that was pure disdain. So I asked her to join me on the flats for a day of bonefishing.

And, she said yes!

She said YES!

I think I'm in love.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

wrapping a guide with a decorative wrap

Category: Rod Building

A good buddy of mine sent me an email earlier today asking for directions on putting "tip wraps" or decorative wraps on guide wraps. Camera in hand, I wished my wife and girls well and headed down into the basement...click on the photos for a larger view.

Tension is key